The First World War is the largest military conflict of its time. The confrontation arose on the basis of a crisis in relations between European countries. All participants in the First World War had their own motives. There were two poles at the time the hostilities began - the Entente and the Triple Alliance.
Coalition formation
The participants in World War I are almost all European countries. In the course of events, they sided with one of the parties to the confrontation. Switzerland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Spain, and Denmark remained neutral.
One of the parties to the conflict was the Entente - a coalition created by Russia, Britain and France. A characteristic feature of the agreement was that there was no single agreement; the participants limited themselves to bilateral agreements. One was signed in 1904, between Great Britain and France, the second - in 1907, the parties were Great Britain and Russia. Romania, Italy (since 1915), Greece and other countries of the Balkans fought on the side of the Entente. Even before the end of hostilities, due to the crisis in the country, Russia emerged from the war.
Why did the Entente countries come into conflict?
All participants in the First World War had their own reasons for participating in the confrontation:
- Russia sought to expand its sphere of influence in Europe - to become a leader among Slavic countries. Particularly interested in access to the Mediterranean Sea. In addition, there were clear aggressive attacks by Germany against Russia.
- France since the days of the Franco-Prussian war harbored evil against Germany and wanted revenge. However, there was a fear of losing colonies in Africa. By the beginning of the twentieth century, France had ceased to withstand competition in the market, therefore, it wanted to regain its significance by eliminating the strongest enemy.
- Great Britain also had a number of reasons to fight Germany. First, England sought to prevent German entry into the British colonies in Africa. A trade war has long been waged between countries. Secondly, she wanted revenge on Germany for the fact that the latter supported the opponents of Great Britain in the Boer War.
- Serbia was not the founder of the Entente, but also had reasons to enter into conflict. The state was very young, it lacked influence - participation in such a confrontation could turn it into the leader of the Balkan countries. Serbia secretly fought against Austria-Hungary.
The lists of participants in the First World War indicate that the conflict in a certain way touched all of Europe.
Block of Opponents - Triple Alliance
The military-political union of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy was formed at the end of the XIX century. The first agreement was signed in 1879. The founders were Austria-Hungary and Germany, 3 years later Italy joined them.
On the side of the Triple Alliance, Turkey and Bulgaria fought. Italy withdrew from the coalition in 1915. Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey (the Ottoman Empire) and Bulgaria became known as the Fourth Union.
It included strong countries. Germany was a leader in economic and political relations, successfully pursued colonial policy in Africa. A powerful state was Austria-Hungary. It was on its territory that the incident occurred that became the main reason for the start of hostilities - the murder of the heir to the throne, Franz Ferdinand.
Why did the Triple Alliance countries want war?
The opportunity to deal with political and economic opponents was the First World War. The participating countries that were part of the Tripartite Agreement had a number of motives for starting hostilities:
- Germany strove for undeniable leadership in Europe. She tried to destroy the influence of Russia and France. An important motive was the desire to get more colonies in Africa.
- Austria-Hungary wanted to preserve their existing territories and annex new ones. She strove, like Russia, to become the leader of all Slavs.
After the conflict ended, participants in World War I received a weakened economy and state instability. After this confrontation, all the empires that existed at that time collapsed.